We're living through the worst flu season in decades -- and it hasn't yet peaked

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We’re living through the worst flu season in decades — and it hasn’t yet peaked
A mutated flu strain is pummeling patients. Avoiding getting sick won't be easy

By Nicole Karlis
Senior Writer
Published January 8, 2026 6:30AM (EST)


(Salon) It started after a Christmas party. Natalie Rowe, a 42-year-old web designer living in the United Kingdom, noticed she felt a little bit like she was losing her voice. She assumed it was because she was talking a little louder to people at the party, but then came the throat soreness. A couple of days later, she started to feel body aches and a bit “shaky.” She went to bed and nearly didn’t leave it for three full days. She had a high fever, fatigue and brain fog. After she was able to start eating again, it still took a full two weeks to recover as she continued to feel extremely tired, suffer from brain fog, and experience bad headaches.

For many people across the Northern Hemisphere, like Rowe, this holiday season was interrupted by an unwanted visitor: influenza.

“It did feel like the worst, the most ill I’ve felt in a long, long time,” Rowe told Salon in a video interview. “Certainly the worst flu I’ve had as an adult.”

Nearly 11 million people have become sick from the flu so far this season, according to new data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including 120,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths. An estimated 90 percent of these have been tied to subclade K,” a variant of the H3N2 virus, a type of influenza A. The U.K., which was hit with the virus before the U.S., experienced a significant outbreak earlier in December, and more than half of Europe was also experiencing high flu activity during that time.

“Influenza cases are rising, and there is a lot of influenza activity and ensuing disruption occurring,” Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told Salon. “This is primarily due to the evolution of a strain of influenza A that has drifted away from what is contained in the vaccine.” ....................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/01/08/this-flu-season-is-the-worst-in-decades/